I’m working with the GitHub API using httplib2 and running into SSL certificate issues. Every time I try to make a request to GitHub’s endpoints, I get an SSL handshake error.
Here’s what I’m trying to do:
import httplib2
client = httplib2.Http()
response = client.request('https://api.github.com/repos')
# Error: SSLHandshakeError: certificate verify failed
I found a temporary fix by disabling SSL validation:
client = httplib2.Http(disable_ssl_certificate_validation=True)
response = client.request('https://api.github.com/repos')
# This works but feels unsafe
I know this isn’t the proper solution since it bypasses security. I’ve read that updating the cacerts.txt file might solve this, but I’m not sure how to do it correctly for GitHub’s certificates. What’s the right way to handle SSL certificate validation with httplib2 when connecting to GitHub?
Had this exact same issue building a GitHub integration tool last year. It’s usually httplib2 not finding or verifying GitHub’s certificate chain. Here’s what fixed it for me: grab the latest cacert.pem file from curl’s website and drop it in your project folder. Then point httplib2 to it: client = httplib2.Http(ca_certs='./cacert.pem'). This keeps your certs up-to-date without waiting for system updates. Just remember to refresh that file every few months since certificate authorities update their bundles. Haven’t had a single SSL handshake failure with GitHub’s API since.
Had the same SSL headaches with httplib2. Usually it’s just stale certificates in your system’s cert store. Don’t disable validation - update your certificates instead. Most systems let you update the ca-certificates package through your package manager. With httplib2, you can grab the latest cacert.pem from curl’s site and pass it to the Http constructor using ca_certs. But honestly? Just switch to requests if you can. It handles certs way better and actually gets maintained. I’ve never had GitHub API issues with requests, and you’ll dodge all this certificate nonsense.
you might want to check if your httplib2 is up to date - older versions can mess with SSL stuff. also, make sure your system clock is accurate since SSL certs are time-sensitive. once you’ve got the latest, it should work well with GitHub’s API as long as you’re using an updated CA bundle.
The SSL certificate errors with httplib2 often stem from outdated CA certificates bundled with the library. A reliable fix is to download the latest cacert.pem from Mozilla and specify the path in your code like this: client = httplib2.Http(ca_certs='/path/to/cacert.pem'). Alternatively, you can use the certifi package, which provides a more up-to-date certificate store. Simply import it and initialize httplib2 with client = httplib2.Http(ca_certs=certifi.where()). Both solutions will resolve the SSL issues without compromising security.
This is a Python certificate store issue, not GitHub’s problem. I hit the same error scraping repo data. Fixed it by updating my system certificates first, then reinstalling httplib2. On Ubuntu: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install ca-certificates. On macOS: brew install ca-certificates. Then run pip install --upgrade --force-reinstall httplib2 and the handshake errors should disappear. You need current system certificates before the library can validate them properly.